Buff them with some extra fine steel wool to get rid of the stench. Joe is an odor combatant, chemistry extraordinaire and all around good guy. He has an over-productive olfactory system with absolutely zero tolerance for unpleasant aromas. View all posts by Joe Fresh. Joe we just had out floor installed and 2 coats of polyurethane over stain white oak, our basement smells really bad of the poly.
Onion, lots of it. Absorbs it nicely. I redid a portion of my red oak flooring in a bathroom and had to have it done and ready quickly because my mother was coming to stay and she had respiratory ailments. I polyeurethaned the night before she came and hung cut onions in a bag on the door and closed it. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.
Skip to content. How to Get Rid of Polyurethane Smell from Floors 1 Open the Windows The good news is that the stench from even the smelliest polyurethane will eventually dissipate. Published by. Joe Fresh Joe is an odor combatant, chemistry extraordinaire and all around good guy.
Thanks Van. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. And if you have any tips about the process of getting the floors ripped out and putting something else in? And the big question, how could you tell when it was safe for you to move into your house? The other thing we're wondering is: What kinds of things in the house could have gotten fumes in them and would need to be replaced I noticed the earlier comments in this thread about mattresses, upholstered furniture, and pillows?
Anything else? Do those fumes get into the walls? We're thinking of getting our hardwood floors ripped out and put in something safer for us with no VOCs, like maybe tile or something. I'm wondering if it is worth doing the environmental testing just to see what the VOC levels are in there now and if they go away if we rip out the floors.
Or if the testing isn't necessary, i. We had solid hardwood red oak floors put in a year ago, and the installer used Bona Mega finish water-based poly and a Minwax stain. We actually wanted him to use a Bona stain, but he insisted that he needed to use a Minwax stain high VOCs because it worked better, in his experience. We stayed away until the cure time was over. When we then went to check on the house, we smelled fumes and got those common symptoms of a reaction to offgassing headaches, fatigue, etc.
Because the fumes are so bad, we have continued to stay away while we try to fix this problem. The floor installer said he'd never seen that problem and he didn't think it was the floor fumes.
We tried but gave up on getting help from him. In our efforts to solve the problem, we talked to a company that does things like mold remediation, and they had heard of this happening with floor fumes. They recommended trying to air out the house frequently and run an air scrubber with charcoal filters. They thought the fumes would dissipate with time. We've done that for a year. The fumes improved a lot but haven't gone away.
Recently, someone who was airing out the house for us went in on a day the AC was off while being repaired, and the fumes were so bad when he walked in that he got nausea and lightheadedess.
At this point, we feel like we need to make a decision and move forward. I don't know how much longer it would take for the fumes to dissipate and for the house to be OK. We don't want to risk our health. So we're trying to figure out what to do and considering ripping out the floors and putting in something else.
We're trying to figure out options that would be safer for us to put in, with no VOCs. Maybe wood-look porcelain tile. Were there any other flooring options that you looked into with no VOCs? We're scared of putting something else in there that could offgas.
We're eager to get this ordeal over with and get to enjoy the house. The new fake wood is not nearly as toxic as oil based polyurethane. Landlords goal is to create tenant-proof rentals. Real hardwood generally takes more abuse than fake stuff. And your previous post you specifically said vinyl. Hardwood can last years. Vinyl and other fake wood products will not. And since they refinished these floors I would say it was not their intent to replace them or they would have done it.
Which it is obvious. I would not change the flooring to a less desirable product when I have a great there already. Now, if you want to approach it under ADA and say that you need accommodations for your medical issues it would have to be accommodated. On your dime. You pay to rip out the existing flooring, install whatever you want, and put into escrow the amount to return the floor to the original condition hardwood.
From my perspective, those are your two options. L H most of my update was in my initial post - asthma really cleared up largely after redoing with Bona. The only thing I was disappointed about was that I couldn't get that rich aged amber hue to match the trim, as the Bona products are much lighter we did add a little bit of "amber tint" but not the same , but I'm much rather breath now and also not have diminished lung function down the line discussed this at lenth with my allergist and an occupational medicine doctor from months of exposure to asthma-inducing chemicals.
The only update on my end is that the sofa and armchair do seem to have off-gassed from the exposure but I'd say months before it fully cleared up. Also there's still some fine dust circulating from the HVAC that was probably produced during the sanding as hard as I tried to prevent this the floor guy ended up turning the system on grrr to "help it dry" because he was in a hurry to finish the project , I've had the ducts cleaned but doesn't get it all.
I'd suspect at this point though it's just dust and is no longer releasing the chemicals. Hi L H , I actually don't think it was worth it to get environmental testing.
If I had to make the choice again, I would save my money and skip it. I was naive in thinking that the testing would surely show a very high level of one of the VOCs listed on the floor finish's MSDS I was planning to use those test results to pressure the floor installer to fix the issue.
In fact, environmental testing is pretty useless unless you know in advance exactly what to test for. I certainly guessed wrong, and wasted good money as a result. For example, I have porcelain tile in all of my bathrooms, and I love it for that purposes, but I would never install it throughout the whole house, because it is so hard which is more and more of a problem as I get older and more arthritic and so cold I installed heating coils under the tile in the bathroom, but that's not feasible for a whole house.
For me, pre-finished wood turned out to be a pretty good choice, although as I mentioned the glue fumes were problematic for a while. If your subfloor is suitable for a nailed-on installation of prefinished wood rather than glued-on, that might be ideal.
Or if at least you are installing prefinished wood over plywood rather than over concrete, so that they can use low odor glue, that will help. BTW on my second installation I ended up using prefinished wood flooring from Mirage, and I love the product. The flooring is beautiful, and the flooring material itself had no odor whatsoever. The only odors were from the installation glue. I didn't really have an option to move out of my house while the fumes were a problem, so I basically just avoided those parts of the house that were problematic as much as possible.
I kept the doors closed between those rooms and the rest of the house as much as I could, and the windows open in those rooms as much as possible.
The whole experience was very inconvenient and very expensive on the utility bills for a very long time I think I had to go with Engineered because one of the floors was being installed over concrete.
I was somewhat worried that any glues or binders used to create the engineered product stack-up would give off some fumes - but as I mentioned above, the product itself had no offensive odor. Mirage is a very reputable high'ish-end? A couple people have recommended putting a coat of water based poly over the oil based poly to get rid of the fumes. Has anyone tried it with success, or not?
I'm thinking of offering that as a solution to the property management. It would be cheap and fast. Any thoughts? It can't be normal for it to be doing this two months after they were sealed. Maybe they put it on too thick, or didn't wait long enough between coats? They did finally give me a brand name- Sherwin Williams- but no other information.
MJ Bluemel , is it possible that your floor has one of the problems that mine did, which was that there were gobs of finish under the baseboards that were still wet and tacky and off-gassing, many months after the refinishing?
I think that would be worth a try. It is a sensitivity issue and it does absorb into fabrics, rugs, mattresses, etc. Wash all of your bedding and get a new mattress pad and see if that helps. We actually moved after 9 months and when we were in the new house could not sleep.
It was disheartening but we immediately purchased a new mattress and all was well. We did move a rug out as well. Hope that helps and sorry you are experiencing this. Just be aware if you are a person with sensitivity. Good luck. Did it go away after you moved? In your new house, did you have any trouble with the floors there?
So sorry that you went through that! We're thinking of ripping out our hardwood floors because of the fumes. We're trying to figure out a better kind of flooring to get with no VOCs. If you have any tips on that, much appreciated. L H I'm having a similar situation. I refinished my floors in July. After 2 months my home was still uninhabitable. I hired a new company to refinish my floors again in Sept.
As they were sanding they realize that they were sanding off oil based Polyurethane and not water. I specifically asked that company for waterbase. I wasn't there to witness what that company put down with the first coat of finish. I suspected something was not right though, so I made sure I witnessed the final Coats of poly. The final Coats were bona Mega.
In my case they used oil poly urethane and covered it up with water poly without proper cure time for the oil. The 2nd company I hired, I purchased the products and everything has been fine until 30 days later. The old smell is coming back and I'm getting severely ill again. Since July I have not been able to move back into my home. In July and Aug. I had air scrubbers running, I had windows open for 40 days, carbon filters, etc. I never took the floorboards out and that may be the problem that the oil and the water that seeped in, in July, is still offgassing , because it's not cured.
I'm going to try a sealer in the floorboards. If that does not work, I've looked into Bamboo flooring. I'm going to wait a couple more weeks before I decide to rip out my new wood floors. I'm 4 months into this. I can't even imagine waiting a year to move back into my home.
You want use that money for your new floors. Hi mady nazario , I'm so sorry to hear that you are having a similar problem. I know it is a major ordeal. It definitely helps to compare notes on this kind of problem. What kind of sealer are you going to try? The classic sealer for odors and stains is shellac. It does smell when applied but the odors don't linger like oil base finishes. The solvent is denatured alcohol so cures much faster. Most floor finishers are going to be familiar with using shellac but they likely don't realize that as universal floor sealant is shellac based.
L H Safecoat out gassing sealer. I'm only going to squirt it in between the floorboard and the hardwood floor. Let us know how it goes! When you had the floors refinished, what products did you use?
Did you use a stain? For ours, we don't know if it was the Bona Mega causing the problem or the Minwax stain or the combination of the two -- still wish the installer had used a Bona product for the stain, though we don't know if that would have helped.
L H Just spoke to safe coat. They do not recommend what I want to do. He suggested that I seal the crack with a wood quarter round instead. We used Duraseal stain and bona mega one the 2nd time. I was fine though when all that was being applied. Keep us posted on what happens if you try the quarter round.
I had the garage floors done with an epoxy base and polyurethane topcoat. Does not help that this is happening during the Covid pandemic. Anyone have experience with this problem in their garage? Indem Sie weiterhin auf der Website surfen bzw. Mehr erfahren. Sign In. Join as a Pro. Houzz TV. Houzz Research.
Shop Featured Holiday Categories. Home Decor. Holiday Decor. Christmas Trees. Holiday Lighting. Gift Cards. Fumes from oil based polyurethane I read what is online and I asked the installer. Now I'm asking for real-life experience. They put the last coat of oil based polyurethane on Tuesday. They said not to go in the next day for the adults but for the kids, don't go in until at least Thursday.
It's Saturday now. Hubby stayed over last night to finish up a few things. He said he had the doors closed in one of the upstairs bedroom.
The fumes were still powerful enough to make his throat hurt this morning. So my question: how long is it going to take for it to be safe for little kids and almost 90 yo Great-Mammaw to live in the house? And how can I get the fumes out of there faster?
And if we move in the furniture in the next week, will it be cured enough for really heavy items? Email Save Comment Featured Answer. Select Hardwood Floor Co. Joseph is pretty much right Unfortunately, depending on the brand used, the thickness may come into play as well. Some brands lay on thicker than others, which can affect dry times as well as cure times.
Typically, as he mentioned, "full cure" hardness may not be reached for days The smell can be around for anywhere from weeks, however. Oil Modified Urethanes have changed dramatically over the last years thanks to the valiant efforts of our government regulators Unfortunately, as well, is the fact that many hardwood floor people are creatures of habit The alternatives to oil poly are the waterborne finishes At this point, as Joseph indicated Like 11 Save.
Sort by: Oldest. Newest Oldest. See 29 more comments. Like 2 Save. Like 3 Save. Related Discussions Has anyone out there had sucess painting over oil based paint? What grit sandpaper were you using? I'm concerned when you mention using electric sanders because that shouldn't be necessary. Leave for a few hours or overnight to give it time to draw out the remaining solvent vapors and to absorb them. Sweep up and repeat, if necessary, until all the fumes are eliminated.
Fresh polyurethane can be walked on as soon as all signs of wet finish disappear. Is water based polyurethane waterproof? Neither water borne nor oil based poly are waterproof , but they are both water resilient. There is also a misperception that water based poly isn't as durable as oil based poly, and the truth is that it depends which brand of water borne poly you are using. Water based polyurethane doesn't smell as bad.
For a regular house, it will not make much of a difference to your neighbors, and I will also point out that both water based and oil based poly smell , and I still recommend that customers go away or stay somewhere else while this work is being done.
Length of time to dry for water based polyurethane: hrs before you can walk on the floors. Hours , you can walk on the floors with socks. After 2 days, you can move furniture back. It's ideal to wait 1 week before dogs walk on the floors unless they use doggie socks.
I think you'll be completely fine with one week cure time. You could probably get by with less, but a week to be completely safe. Water- based polyurethane can have less of an offensive odor when compared to oil - based products, but floors require at least four coats to achieve the desired level of protection.
While oil - based polyurethane only needs two or three coats, the odor may be so strong the home is uninhabitable for several days.
Wood stain fumes are harmful to human health, but there are things you can do to prevent risking your health and safety. Proper ventilation is very important until the strong smell of wood stains fade. You can use activated charcoal or baking soda to help eliminate odor. How long do polyurethane fumes last? Category: hobbies and interests woodworking.
The floor should be mostly cured enough to live on in the first days, but it can take up to a month for the odors to be completely gone, and for the finish to reach its maximum hardness.
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